So the last few months have been terrible in a pretty wide variety of ways. Even though it wasn’t the year we had hoped for, Jenny and I did occasionally find some time for fun and enjoying what we could of life and… cats. Here’s some highlights of the last few months.
Occasionally Jenny and I would hang with some of our favorite neighbors, Eddie and Emma. Usually they keep us up far too late…. seriously.
Jenny and I made a few strolls down the beach to enjoy some beers at the outdoor brewery and restaurant… also visit their parrots.
Obviously one of the few things keeping me sane through all of this is being able to surf and recently I just had one of the highlights of my surfing life; surfing Tres Palmas. Unfortunately our documentation of this trip was kind of poor, I blame it on all the excitement.
Tres is a break on the west side of the island in Rincón. We actually have already mentioned it in one of our earlier posts, I think right around this time last year in the before times. Anyways, this spot can handle a lot of swell and if the direction is right, it can produce quite a wave.
As any diligent surfer does, I keep a close eye on the meteorological forecasts to pretend I know what’s going to happen with the waves. About two weeks ago everything was pointing towards a big incoming northwest swell which made me and all other surfers on the island excited. Jenny and I booked a nice little spot just in front of Tres Palmas.
Upon arriving we found that the waves were pumping but kind of messy. I called up one of my surf buddies from Maryland, Alex, who has taken up temporary residence with his wife, Margie, on the west side of the island and worked up a plan. Alex was keen to surf Tres because he had just bought a new gun (a big surfboard for big waves). However, we decided that the wise move was to wait until the next day to go out when Jason would be around. Jason’s another gringo who spends his winters here surfing. He’s a pilot who has to work about every 8 days or so and spends his time in between surfing… pretty sweet life. So in consideration of Jenn’s number one rule for me when I go surfing, “Don’t die”, we waited and surfed some other small stuff in the area.
The next day I got up at dawn and checked the waves; everything was still working nicely, maybe even bigger. Alex had a few chores to take care of so we decided to meet up later and I walked down the road and surfed one of other breaks. After a short session I got out so I could have some shoulders left for the rest of the day and Jenny and I had some lunch at El Ancla (the anchor) at the marina, watched the surf, and had a few Don Q’s.
Alex and Margie joined up with us and we did a check of Tres and decided it was time. Jason was back and ready to go. Us three caballeros met down on the beach and set off for the long paddle out, roughly about 30 minutes. Thankfully, when we got out the lineup it was in that sweet spot of enough people around to make you feel comfortable for safety (and cheering) but not too many too make it feel overcrowded.
At this point I was feeling pretty undergunned, in that the biggest board I own is 7′. I didn’t really have any plans on catching a wave though, just to observe and get a feel. Since I was generally just trying to avoid the big sets coming in, I was sitting pretty wide towards the channel in the reef and hooting Jason and Alex into waves. This was also Alex’s first time in waves of that size out there and he was enjoying how his newly acquired gun was working.
Suddenly I hear Jason say a set’s swinging wide, so I picked my head, looked over my shoulder and low and behold I was just about in the perfect spot. A little repositioning, I put my head back down, gave a few deep paddles, and I was into the biggest wave of my life. The next few moments are a bit of a blur, I mostly remember the crazy speed you get going down the face of a 20′ wave… it’s a lot. I had a nice little line then hopped off over the back of the wave and right back onto the board without getting my hair, or scalp I suppose, wet. I paddled back to Jason and Alex with a grin from ear to ear. I knew from then through the rest of the season, any other waves I get would just be icing on the cake.
I paddle over and sat chatting with Alex, we were both pretty content and the sun was starting to set. Jason, on the other hand, was not content and didn’t want to go in until he caught a bomb. So Alex and I bobbed around waiting on the inside for Jason. It was starting to move past dusk and into the evening proper, so Alex and I were debating paddling in but it didn’t feel right to leave him out there. Just as we were discussing this, Alex saw a group of flashlights on the beach waving around. Alex immediately knew he was in much bigger trouble… the wives were signaling us back in. Thankfully, in what was now almost complete darkness, Jason paddled up next to us having given up on his efforts, we made our way back to the beach. We had a surprisingly easy exit onto the slippery rocks and joined up with the wives. I think our overall giddiness made them quickly forgive the late return.
We all went out for a nice outdoor dinner and recounted the events of the day, while Jenn and Jason’s girlfriend bonded over their mutual love of airplane disaster shows. Apparently she enjoys quizzing Jason on various emergency piloting situations. After finishing up we departed and got ready for the next day of surf.
The next morning Jim (another philopatric gringo surf visitor to Rincón) paddled out with Alex and I to Tres. Once again the waves were pumping but this time there were far, far more people. I again took to the shoulder and sat back and watched. I was hoping to catch one but wasn’t pushing it given I had already seen two collisions. Jim eventually caught a nice one and we went back to the beach. A few hours later the onshore winds picked up and made everything a mess. Alex and I took a drive around to spot check but eventually called it quits and we settled on a nice dinner in town with the ladies.
Thankfully, I got one more session in with Alex prior to leaving at a lesser known but fun spot. The waves were slightly overhead, clean, and fun. I bid adieu to Alex and started back to our place to pack up, but promptly got lost in the hills. Eventually, I made it back with enough time to pack before check out and we got on the road back to San Juan. Successful trip.
So overall, the year hasn’t been all bad, in fact, if you ask Ruffian it’s probably been the best year ever .
Los Dulanys 